Agenda item

The Committee received a report on the Housing Growth and Local Plan Consultation further to that considered at the meeting on 12^th February 2013.

Given the situation that had arisen through the draft Redditch Growth Consultation documents not being agreed at the previous meeting of the Council and the same documents receiving the approval of Councillors at Bromsgrove District Council, Officers detailed the potential difficulties that could face the Borough as a consequence. The Leader of Bromsgrove District Council had written to the Borough Council urging that it reconsider its earlier decision not to approve the draft Consultation documents and stressing that his Council was intending to proceed with public consultation from 1^st April. The legal obligations on the Borough through the Duty to Cooperate were also highlighted and the consequences of failing to do so illustrated by reference to material in relation to Coventry City Council and the recent decision by the Planning Inspectorate to recommend withdrawal of its Core Strategy from further examination as a result of it being deemed to have failed to comply with the Duty to Cooperate.

Officers also brought to Members attention a letter which had been received from Birmingham City Council regarding the Duty to Cooperate and sought approval of an additional recommendation to take account of this. Officers suggested that they be allowed to continue to make minor changes to Appendices 2 and 3 to the report should the documents be agreed for consultation. The Committee’s attention was also drawn to a typographical error which stated that the proposed consultation period on Redditch Growth should end on 13^th May 2013 when it should, in fact, read 15^th May 2013.

Members discussed the report at some length. It was suggested that the situation had not materially changed since the previous occasion on which this matter had been considered and, although it had been recommended for approval by the Committee, the consultation documents had not subsequently received the approval of Council. Officers were also asked whether Bromsgrove District Council had been requested to reconsider the inclusion of any additional sites within the consultation leaflet. Officers responded that they had no authority to request that Bromsgrove District Council consider any matters and it was again stressed that Bromsgrove had approved the documents for consultation as originally submitted. Officers did confirm that a number of sites to the north and west of Redditch had been presented to members at briefing session during the initial investigatory work on cross-boundary growth but that Officers from both authorities had subsequently undertaken a thorough assessment of the potential sites and had identified two preferred sites from those originally considered. It was proposed by Officers that the consultation documents continue to be developed to make it clear to the public that their comments would be considered on any of the possible development sites.

In response to a suggestion that the consultation period be extended it was stressed that the Borough would be vulnerable to hostile development applications until a defendable Local Plan had been developed. Officers highlighted their willingness to meet with local residents to explain the documents further and to assist them in preparing responses to the consultation material. The process would conclude with a planning examination which would determine, in the light of all the responses submitted and the Consultation documents themselves, whether the proposals being put forward by the Borough were sound.

It was made clear that, in order to have any influence on these Growth Options, then the residents needed to engage with the consultation process and sound reasons put forward as to why the housing growth should be located somewhere other than in the two preferred locations. It was also made clear that Officers from the two authorities had developed their preferred options based on evidential grounds over a considerable period of time.

RECOMMENDED that

1)          the consultation document, Housing Growth Consultation (Appendix 1) and the supporting background evidence report (Appendix 2) and the accompanying Sustainability Appraisal (Appendix 3) are approved for public consultation by Redditch Borough Council and Bromsgrove District Council between 1^st April 2013 and 15^th May 2013;

2)        the Draft Borough of Redditch Local Plan No.4 and the accompanying Sustainability Appraisal are approved for public consultation at a deferred date to align with the Housing Growth consultation which is between 1^st April 2013 and 13^th May 2013; and

3)        authority be delegated to the Head of Planning and Regeneration, in consultation with the Portfolio Holder for Planning, Regeneration, Economic Development and Transport, to consider the recent letter received from Birmingham City Council regarding the Duty to Cooperate and acknowledge that the duty will also apply to Birmingham City Council and other neighbouring authorities in relation to the Redditch Growth and Local Plan No.4 Consultation.